The present invention relates to wheeled skates, and more particularly to wheeled skates adaptable to be removably mounted upon a skater's footwear. The invention further relates to wheel trucks for mounting wheels on skates, skateboards, scooters and the like.
Roller skates include wheels attached to the sole portion of a skate shoe. Conventional roller skates have a pair of front wheels sharing one axis of rotation and a pair of rear wheels sharing a second axis of rotation that is parallel to the first set of wheels. Since each wheel is displaced from the longitudinal center axis of the roller skate, conventional four wheeled roller skates provide substantial lateral stability.
Inline roller skates typically have multiple wheels arranged in longitudinal alignment along the center axis of the skate. Each wheel has a unique axis of rotation that is parallel to the axes of rotation of the other wheels. Because each of the wheels are upon the longitudinal axis of the skate, inline skates provide less lateral stability than four wheeled roller skates. However, inline roller skates provide other advantages including being considered faster than conventional skates by providing all of the wheels upon the ground even when the skate is tilted about the skate's longitudinal axis. Furthermore, it is possible to do the so called “hockey-stop” braking action with an inline skate, while this style of braking is not capable of being accomplished with a tradional four wheeled skate.
To provide braking action, wheeled skates will often include a toe stop, also referred to as a toe brake. A toe stop can serve to slow a skater's forward speed when the skater drags the toe of the wheeled skate behind their body upon the skating surface. Further, when the skater is skating backwards, the skater can utilize the toe brake as a brake to slow backward motion. Unfortunately, these actions require that the wheels of the skate be disengaged from the skating surface when the skater raises their foot.
Wheeled skates have also been known to include a rear brake pad. Like the toe brake, the rear brake is activated by a skater raising their skate off the skate surface and leveraging the rear brake against the skate's surface. Utilizing brake pads of either conventional four wheeled skates or inline wheeled skates can be counterproductive both from the need to apply substantial forces to the brake pad against the skate surface and to the skater's need to maintain balance, control and maneuverability while braking.
It is also known to provide wheeled skates which are mounted to skater's footwear, and to provide skates which are expendable to affix to footwear of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,538 shows an expandable roller skate with toe and heel plates and toe and instep straps for securing the skate on a skater's shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 1,771,855 shows an expandable strap-on roller skate with wheels positioned in front of the toe plate and in back of the heel plate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,190 shows an expandable strap-on skate with front and rear brake pads. U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,039 shows an expandable strap-on skate with buckles for securing the straps. U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,713 shows a skate with a pair of rear wheels and two in-line front wheels and front and rear stops or brakes. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2003/0116930 discloses a roller skate having a tiltable pair of front wheels and a single rear wheel.
Unfortunately prior art wheeled skates suffer from numerous disadvantages.
Specifically, it would be desirable to provide a wheeled skate which provided greater braking capacity while maintaining stability.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide an improved skate which could be adjusted in length to affix to shoes of various sizes without requiring the use of tools or the use of one's hand for adjustment.
It would also be desirable to provide a wheeled skate which could be affixed to the shoe without buckles or the like.